Fireflies
by Neon Clouds
Summary: And so, my heart beating wildly in my chest, a thousand drums booming deafeningly, I faced to door, waiting. The door began to swing open and my lungs refused to accept oxygen.


**Here is a Wilby oneshot just becuase I got the idea a while ago and I love them!**

My heart beat wasn't at its normal speed. That was definite. I wasn't exactly excited to be on another date. The last one I was on was…treacherous. Horrid boy, horrid soul. And it was a while, a week maybe, after this date with Jake that Charlene, Jess, and Amanda had this _brilliant_ idea of setting me up on a blind date. Oh, joy.

So there I was, in my flowy mauve blouse, white skinny jeans, and heliotrope slightly high-heel shoes, an ensemble that the three of them had put together for me while looking through my closet, feeling absolutely ridiculous. Truth be told, I was waiting somewhat impatiently, anxiously, to see the boy with the white carnation walk into the restaurant, just to see what he looked like. I had to meet him, perhaps to get it over with, the whole guessing game in my mind.

My feet tapped impatiently on the floor as my eyes scouring the relatively full sushi restaurant, high in popular teenage interests for its flamboyant decorations of many neon and bright colors, its extraneous foods, and karaoke.

I checked my watch again. It felt like I had been for thirty minutes but it had only been five minutes. Five very long, very unforgivingly stretched out minutes. Two more minutes until eight o'clock, the time that they had told me he'd get there. Being early was extremely stressed in their conversation with me beforehand. Why? I don't know.

My hand brushed absentmindedly against the edge of my handbag, fingers begging to enter and check just one more time to make sure my phone was in there. On the night of my last date with Jake, my phone wasn't charged and I couldn't borrow my brother's because he had taken his to go to his late-night college course. Mom took hers with her when she went out to get a few drinks. Again. So I went without a cellphone. HUGE mistake on my part.

I glanced at my watch. Eight. Exactly. _Oh, great god, it's time_. And so, my heart beating wildly in my chest, a thousand drums booming deafeningly, I faced to door, waiting. The door began to swing open and my lungs refused to accept oxygen. Dumbstruck by familiarity, I slid back in my chair at the knowledge that it wasn't my date. _It's just Philby. Wonder what eighth wonder of the world, he's on a date with. He's probably-wait, WHAT?_

As he came in, my view no longer blocked by the doorframe, I noticed something in his hand. Not a small something, but a significant something. A very, _very _significant something. Lissome in both sinew and beauty, a fair, esthetic carnation. Controlled by subconscious instincts in my dumbfounded stupor, I got up from my chair and made my way over to him.

Cautiousness filtered my thoughts, not wanting to embarrass myself if my understanding was incorrect "Hey, Phil. What're you doing here?" I asked quizzically, candidly incredulous to the fact that it was he who walked in with the blossom.

"Hey. Uh, the guys set me up on a blind date." He seemed blatantly drawn by my necklace, an honestly simple piece of jewelry, a silver pendant of the Chinese symbol for love. I was beginning to ascertain why they had made sure I'd wear it.

"Oh my god." I muttered under my breath. "I'm going to kill them."

"I'm sorry?" He asked, apparently having heard me. It was truly serendipitous that he hadn't caught on yet. His eyes still caught a glance at my necklace every so often, making me feel diffident.

"This is a set up. Charlene, Jess, and Amanda had _me _go on a blind date. They planned this together, all of them. They said he'd be the one with the white carnation." I motioned toward the mesmeric flower.

"That would explain your necklace." He said, indicating the pendant. "Finn and Maybeck told me to look for the girl with the Chinese symbol." Gesticulating toward the table, he gave me a grin, one that would sure put even Finn fan girls to waver between the lines of who to obsess over. "Well then, shall we?"

"Shall we what?"

"Proceed onto the date."

"What. You still want to go?" This took me aback, not slightly, but immensely. I'd have thought that we would have parted ways at that moment. We were friends, really good friends in all rectitude, but friends none-the-less. Surely he couldn't ever see me as more than that. Not even exceeding such boundaries enough to go on a simple date.

"Yes, actually, I do. Why? You don't? " It may have been a trick of light or something of the sort, but I thought I saw his smile vacillate slightly.

"Oh, no. Of course I do." A smile spread across my face from ear to ear. It took all my will power not to laugh out loud with joy.

He beamed at me, making my heart skip a beat. With class and charm that reminded me of the eminent Shakespearian love story, he held the flower to me, of which I graciously accepted, giggling at his gesture. He led me back to a white-cloth-adorned table and we sat across from each other. Sitting so close to him, I felt my ribcage grown too small for my lungs, making every breath harder.

To be frank, Philby could have virtually any girl he wanted, seeing as they launched themselves willingly at him each and every day at school, in every effort to flirt with him and hold his attention for more than two seconds.

And so when I saw his status when we were talking on Skype earlier, it was 'Going on a date. I think.' An image manifested in my mind of him with his arm wrapped around one of those picture-perfect girls in our school, jealousy erupting viciously in me. Now, I had absolutely no idea how to feel.

In zealous effort of forcing the discomposing idea that we were on a date, I tried to pretend we were once again just a pair of friends hanging out. Not that it was, in factual manner, an actual date, but the title to it was enough to disrupt my train of thought and disengage me from the ability to speak. In between casual banter, he and I ordered.

"You suck at using chopsticks." I laughed as he struggled to pick up a California roll.

He grinned meagerly, mock-shameful. "Well not everyone's perfect, and it's not my fault I was never able to properly use these confusing Asia utensils. Nobody ever taught me."

"Well, no one taught me either." I added jokingly. "I've always been able to eat Japanese like a pro. It's a gift."

"How very modest." Sarcasm strong in his tone, but more of teasing amiably than ridiculing.

"No need to get sarcastic."

"I wasn't. You really are meek."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No, not at all. You know, I'm so glad it was you who they set me up with." My heart elated, and my smile suddenly was broader, fuller, more radiant. "I really didn't want to be forced to go on a date with a girl I didn't know."

Then it was like someone dropped my heart off a ten story building and it hit the sidewalk. That's all. It wasn't that he liked me or wanted to spend time with me. No, he just had no desire to be put into an arranged date, not knowing the other at all. The, to me, conspicuous fact that I was part of a game struck me.

In a game of chess, I'd play which piece? The king, the queen, the knight? No, my role is far too trifling for those. I could be a bishop or a rook. Then, rather, I felt more like a pawn, lesser and supine, to make only two steps forward and already be disposed of an eliminated from the game.

Them, all of them, Charlene, Jess, Amanda, Finn, Maybeck and Philby, they could all just be having their fun with me, toying with my emotions. Perhaps, I had been reading it all wrong. _No!_ I obliterated these thoughts, for I knew they were different from my old friends. True, after that, I did have trust issues, but I refused to believe them, the people who loved me for me and saved my butt when a lady with bad hair and an obsession with furs held me captive to withdraw information from me.

Philby looked at me expectantly, as I must have appeared completely absentminded for a moment. "I'm sorry. I just kind of zoned out there."

He laughed. "Am I boring you, Willa?"

"Oh, no, absolutely not." I paused for a moment, thinking conceptualizing if my plan would be a wonderful notion or a horrific, haunting nightmare to be avoided entirely. "Do you believe in magic?"

He lowered his voice, "Willa, I live in a world where I wake up every night in Disney, not in my body, but in my DHI form, to fight evil villains. _Not _to believe in magic would be illogical."

A moment went by, and I let that process. I contemplated the idea and found myself longing even more for him to see it. "I want to show you something. Would you mind driving us somewhere?"

He dithered, "I don't know if-"

"Please? Don't you trust me?" At this, he nodded, and agreed to do as I instructed on what routes to take. Hurriedly, we called for a bill, which he insisted on paying.

When we were in his car and he was right there, right beside me in the driver's seat, all my blood was pumping furiously around my body, faster than it should have. But, he was just so close to me. I told him where to turn and soon we were rolling down streets far too au fait to me. I smiled, for I knew where I was going, both in place and in time. After several minutes of driving, his car was quickly approaching our destination, foliage roofing that landscape, closing off our view of the sky.

"Just stop here." I told him, and he shut off the engine.

"What are we doing here?" He asked, viewing about with a muddled expression.

I didn't explain, instead I insisted. "Follow me." And I opened the door, stepping out of the car, the fresh, crisp air delectable to my senses. I giggled at the familiarity, just to be here again. "Come on."

"Will you please tell me why we're here?" I heard the crunch of his feet on dried fallen leaves, and turned, shaking my head, with a smile.

"Nope. Come on." I skipped off, deeper into the tunnel of trees, knowing he'd follow. And he did exactly that. He called after me to slow down. "Why don't you just hurry up, slow-poke?"

He eventually caught up to me, taking small glances around, the peculiarity of my location of choice intriguing him. He grabbed my arm, and despite the chill air, it was his fingers on my skin that sent gelidity up my spine. "How are you just wearing that?" He indicated my short sleeved top. "Willa, it's freezing out here. Take my jacket." Before I could protest, he shrugged it off and draped it around my shoulders. I sent him the most grateful smile I could manage.

Finally, the trees gave way to a clearing of grass, and just that view was breathtaking. The sky a piercing black, exaggerating the stars brightness. "Sit." I inculcated, lying on the grass and staring upwards.

He adopted my position beside me. "Now, explain to me why we came."

"Wait." _Three, two, one._ And just like that, it happened, exactly how I remembered it, only more awe-inspiring. Twinkling lights flickered and danced before us, a true extraordinary sight. Fireflies capered and gamboled in the air gorgeously. They glittered, gold light emitted from them, a spectacle that every child should experience.

"When I was younger, my parents brought us here and we'd just run around, chasing lightning bugs, my brothers and I. As a child, I enjoyed it very much. But eventually, I didn't have time to come, with school and crossing over." I explained. "It seems like something you'd see in a fairytale. Like someone had spread pixie dust in the air. Often, I'd dream about it later in the night. Fireworks that weren't made of ignited powder, they were made of magic." He didn't reply. "You're not mad that I brought you here, are you?

He dared to move closer, whispering in my ear, "How could I? This is perfect." I rolled onto my side to face him, staring into his eyes, watching the lights dance across his face gracefully. Bluntly, suddenly without fear or hesitance, I leaned forward and kiss him. It was short, no more than a long-lasting brush of the lips, but I felt sparks. And then, he wrapped an arm around me, pulling me to him, cossetting me.

Later, he drove me home, a smile spread across his face making me want to laugh and keep the memory of it forever, saving it for a rainy day. And then _he _kissed _me_, when he parked in front of my house.

Even the reality of being unaccompanied in my house with my brother at class and my mom god-knows-where seemed dim, my happiness sparkling brighter than all else. The darkness of knowing that I was going to cross over the next day wasn't enough to frazzle me; perhaps it even fortified me more, knowing Philby was going to be there. Going up the stairs to my room, the house was in complete darkness and gloom, but in my mind I was still in my fairytale.

**Did you like it? Hate it? Not quite understand it? Please review!**


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